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Barrie-Muskoka Food: Organic Foods Questions And Answer

Here are some common Organic Food questions
Is organic food better for you?
Organic foods and fiber are spared the application of toxic commercial insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers (though trace amounts ambient in the growing area may still get into the food, though). Many EPA-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. In the long run, organic farming techniques provide a safer, more sustainable environment for everyone. There is also mounting evidence at this time to suggest that organically produced foods may be more nutritious.

Children eating primarily organic diets had significantly lower levels organophosphorus (OP) pesticide metabolite concentrations than did children eating conventional diets. The difference in levels was about six times higher. Other studies indicate that chronic low-level exposure to OP pesticide may affect neurological functioning, neurodevelopment, and growth in children. Shifting diets to organic fruits, vegetables, and juice can reduce children's exposure levels from above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines to below them.

Why does organic food sometimes cost more?
Organic food prices reflect their costs of growing, harvesting, processing, transportation and storage. Organically-produced foods meet stricter regulations governing all of these steps, and incorporate some natural-source ingredients that may be more expensive than mass-produced chemical substitutes, and often use a more labor- and management-intensive process on smaller-scale farms. Of course many indirect (societal) costs of modern industrial-scale agriculture are not passed on to consumers, including thins like cleanup of polluted water, replacement of eroded soils, costs of health care for farmers and their workers.

Isn't organic food just a fad?
In the US, organic food and beverage grew from $1 billion in 1990 to over $20 billion by 2007. Over that time the Whole Foods organic foods supermarket chain grew (in both the US and in Canada) helped to create a mass market for organic foods, with similar distribution and retail economics afforded non-organic foods through other supermarkets. Growth of the organic foods sector is expected grow an average of 18% annually through 2010.

Is Organic Food more nutritious?
Organic foods contain, on average, 25 percent higher concentration of 11 nutrients than their conventional counterparts, according to a 2008 report jointly produced by The Organic Center, the University of Florida Department of Horticulture, and Washington State University provides evidence that. The report was based on estimated differences in nutrient levels across 236 comparisons of organically and conventionally grown foods. More info…. Another study showed organically vrown crops had 27% more vitamin C, 21.1% more iron, 29.3% more magnesium, and 13.6% more phosphorus, and is consistent with known soil dynamics and plant physiology. .A 2002 UK study showed that organic soups sold commercially in the United Kingdom contain almost six times as much salicylic acid as non-organic soups. Salicylic acid, which is responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin, has been shown to help prevent hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer. Four of the conventional soups had no detectable levels of salicylic acid. Research by the Truman State University in Missouri found organically-grown oranges contained up to 30 percent more vitamin C than those grown conventionally, even though conventionally grown oranges were larger than the organic oranges.